The Hyperion
Early History ' 2462: ' The Hyperion was designed and constructed to serve as the star of a fledgling travel fleet by the name of Infitus Inc. The ship's construction was a long and involved process and no expense was spared. All of the latest technological innovations were utilized in its design including some prototype luxuries. These included but where not limited to; an artificial bio system capable of substaining plant life aboard the ship, a fully equiped medical bay with state of the art equipment, and various entertainment options. The amount of time and expense in the ship's construction began to make some investors wary. Early 2463: Infitus Inc. begins to run behind on the scheduled completion of The Hyperion leading to further conflicts within the company and externally with investors. Factors contributing to the delay in production included a shipping strike and the mysterious dissapearances of 2 workers while doing matinence to the ship. Infitus Inc. begins to liquidate assets in order to further fund the construction. Strange malfunctions hinder the construction. Maiden Voyage Late 2464: 'Construction is finally completed and the ship is scheduled to make its first trip. The passenger log for the maiden voyage includes mainly political and high profile travelers. At this point Infitus Inc. has only a few ships left in its fleet and it has been mostly abandoned by investors. The entire future of the company now relies on ''The Hyperion. The ship's launch is a success and the initial trip is made with few glitches. 'Early 2465: '''The ships second voyage doesn't go quite as smoothly as the first. At the onset climate issues plague the ship causing extreme temperature spikes in the ship. People find things often misplaced or missing and much blame is placed on the crew of the ship. At some point the ship completely looses power for roughly an hour, and once it is restored the trip continues with no further troubles. '''Late 2467: '''After a series of trips are plagued by problems both mechanical and electrical, Infitus Inc. begins having trouble filling the ship on even short distance travels. The company liquidates the remainder of its assets in order to effect repairs on ''The Hyperion and make an attempt to remarket it. The clientele of the voyages made by the ship becomes less compiled of aristocracy, and more farmers and frontiersmen. Infitus Inc. manages to keep the company afloat by offering near constant trips to the lower class and packing the ship to the brim. The voyages continue to be plagued with system failures and the such, but the "lower" class of passengers doesn't complain much. Incident near Murphy '''Late 2482: While on a routine trip to Murphy the ship suffers a blackout during which the chief navigator was inured. The ship is without power for a little over an hour and begins to drift off course. A green pilot was flying the ship for this trip, and had to act as a navigator after the power was restored. In order to calm his nerves the pilot had been consuming alcohol and somehow maneuvered the ship completely of course rather than correct it. By time the error had been corrected, the ship had traveled roughly 2 hours at full burn with the wrong heading. At some point the ship's log indicated the presence of a derelict ship in the near distance. The decision was made to investigate and offer assistance to the vessel if needed. While processing the situation it was revealed to be a Reaver ploy. Reavers set siege to the ship and the ship's logs end with this message: ''"The numbers, the numbers. They pour from the other craft likes so many ants at an unattended meal... I swear I saw one jump from the other vessel into atmo as if he actually '' ''expected to board us in such a manner. They are crazed and I can hear the screams even now. We are lost.....They are at the door, but..." - First Mate'' Marcus Wise The ship had activated its emergency beacon, but it would not be picked up for 3 weeks. The ship was found adrift by the Alliance ship Silver Streak. ''All aboard were dead, but the mystery only deepens at that point. The Reavers aboard where all dead as well. Only a few showed any signs of wounds. It appeared as if the rest had just chosen to stay aboard the ship and die. The logs aboard ''The Hyperion ''show that the airlock had been detached from the other derelict vessel manually. Later investigation would show that the other vessel while derelict was fully capable of sustaining the Reavers. Salvage and Repair '''Early 2485: '''The ship is purchase from an Alliance salvage lot and repaired by a private customer. At some point during its reconstruction the ship is heavily modified to better serve as a cargo vehicle, but the amenities are left in place. After being fully repaired the ship is sold at auction. Over the next two decades, the ship would trade hands no less than 10 times, seeing large periods of down time. The ship began to develop a reputation of being cursed, and crew who served on the ship would more often than not have strange stories to tell. Misfortune seemed to follow the ship from captain to captain, often leaving the new owner destitute or worse. After the last owner of the ship, Douglas Oriech, lost a large part of his crew to the ship he decommissioned it, had it broken down into sections, and had it stored at a hangar on Arvad's Helm. All of this was an attempt to make sure the ship could never spread it curse to anyone else. '''Early 2515: '''Cade Ledford, in a spectacular game of Tall Card, earns a large portion of what little money Douglas Oreich has left. Over the course of the game Cade makes known that he is looking for a ship and in a desperate bid to save what little he has left, Oreich does what he swore never to do. He offers Cade ''The Hyperion ''in lieu of his meager fortune as well as whatever he needs to make it flyable. Cade accepts the offer and takes ownership of the vessel. '''Late 2515: 'The Hyperion ''has been returned to service once more. Much of the original craft had to be replaced with parts salvaged from other ships giving the ship a distinct look and feel. Cade feels at home aboard his vessel and begins to find a crew. Occasionally he feels eyes on his back, and he could have sworn that door was closed when he left the room... ' '''